


Gallaghercest: A Primer

by Snickfic



Category: Oasis (Band)
Genre: M/M, Meta, Ship Manifesto, Sibling Incest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-18
Updated: 2020-03-18
Packaged: 2021-02-28 22:27:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,738
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23204683
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Snickfic/pseuds/Snickfic
Summary: If you are into:- Fucked-up codependent sibling relationships with optional incest- Larger-than-life, endlessly quotable trainwreck people- 90s Britpop nostalgia- Fandoms with years and years of canon material to get lost in- Old-school fandom chock-full of messy ship dynamics, underage, and unnegotiated kinkTHEN HAVE I GOT A SHIP FOR YOU.
Relationships: Liam Gallagher/Noel Gallagher
Comments: 34
Kudos: 71
Collections: March Meta Matters Challenge





	Gallaghercest: A Primer

**Author's Note:**

> \- There are a LOT of links here, because I love sourcing stuff and may have gone overboard. Don't feel like you have to click on all of them!  
> \- Click on photos for full size.  
> \- Click on gifs for gif sources.  
> \- All joking aside, this is not intended as a tinhat conspiracy post. The kissing is canon; anything beyond that is just fun to think about.
> 
> Enormous thanks go to seinmit for betaing, Jeevey for helping me track down photos, and Truffula for helping me wrestle my AO3 image formatting into submission.
> 
> Originally posted at [my Dreamwidth](https://snickfic.dreamwidth.org/733117.html).

[ ](http://snickfic.dreamwidth.org/file/58506.jpg)

# So who are these people?

Back in the 90s there was this band, Oasis, composed of a bunch of working-class lads from Manchester, England: brash, loud, high on life and just about every substance they could get their hands on. Noel Gallagher wrote the songs and played lead guitar, his younger brother Liam was frontman, and then there were uhhhh some other guys. In Britain Oasis soared to heights of popularity not seen since the Beatles; in America they were moderately popular and had one really big hit that became a meme. Their third album crashed and burned under the weight of glorious hubris and an actual mountain of cocaine, despite record-breaking first week sales in the UK, and Oasis never recovered commercially or artistically, although they went on to make four more studio albums before splitting up in 2009.

(Very possibly you already knew most of this, if you, unlike myself, were not living under a rock for most of the 90s.)

Oasis stayed a five-person band for its duration (except that period where they had a drummer who played all their gigs and on all their albums but wasn't "in" the band, however that works), but honestly the other members were largely interchangeable; Oasis was always pretty much a two-person show, and those two people were the Gallagher brothers.

Here we have, left to right, Noel and Liam Gallagher circa the 90s:

They grew up in Manchester in the 1970s and 80s. Their father was abusive and was particularly hard on Noel. Their mother left him when Noel was 15 and Liam was 10 and took the kids with her. She raised Noel, Liam, and their older brother Paul in a house on a council estate (ie, public housing) while holding down a variety of jobs, including working at the cafeteria in Liam’s school when he was a teenager, which meant he had to at least show up for lunch. Neither Liam nor Noel was much interested in school; they both spent their youth committing a variety of petty crimes.

Here's more of Noel in the 90s:  
[](http://snickfic.dreamwidth.org/file/61514.jpg) [](http://snickfic.dreamwidth.org/file/60980.jpg)

And here's Noel circa 2015:  
[](http://snickfic.dreamwidth.org/file/43922.png)

Noel's the older brother and ringleader. He was a roadie for a while for fellow Mancunians (ie, people from Manchester) the Inspiral Carpets in his early 20s (during which time he [definitely wasn't dating anyone in the band](http://66.media.tumblr.com/6f2564293f4927b72f79a23b02215a1b/305120e6a46db1a3-87/s640x960/d63a70405185c593c87b1769a9985a26f17cc38c.jpg), and he can [assure you](http://oasisinterviews.blogspot.com/2000/03/noel-gallagher-uncut-march-2000.html) that he and that other dude were not kissing). He says he had no particular musical ambitions until Liam invited him to join Oasis. Inasmuch as Oasis had creative genius, Noel was it. He wrote most of the songs until pretty late in Oasis's history, he played a bunch of additional instruments on their records, he produced their later albums, he was their most frequent and most articulate interview; despite being the final member to join the original line-up, he was very much the driving force. Noel always has a lot to say and and very little filter—or at least, a very good pretense of having no filter—and unfiltered Noel is clever, quick-witted, curmudgeonly, and often just flat-out mean. He's also frequently hilarious and pretty much always full of shit; he's ready and willing to bend the truth to tell a better story, as a defensive move, or just for his own entertainment. [Here's](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfNqyjZcleI) a greatest hits compilation of his agonized commentary on Oasis's music videos (YouTube); [here's](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxZwXy8kds8) his appearance on Hot Ones, aka Celebrities vs Hot Sauce (YouTube); and [here's](http://grantland.com/features/noel-gallagher-oasis/) a more serious Grantland interview from 2011 with a ton of interesting retrospective commentary from him.

This is Liam, also mostly circa the 90s. He's five years younger than Noel and was extremely pretty and, as Noel was, generously endowed in the eyebrow department.

[](http://snickfic.dreamwidth.org/file/45872.jpg) [](http://snickfic.dreamwidth.org/file/59118.jpg) [](http://snickfic.dreamwidth.org/file/40601.jpg)

And here’s Liam today:

[ ](http://snickfic.dreamwidth.org/file/44782.jpg)

Noel brought the drive, and Liam brought the charisma. He had a very distinctive singing voice (it took me a while to warm up to it tbh) and twice his weight in attitude. Liam is A Character. If you watch his old interviews (or catch the 2016 documentary of Oasis's early years, _Supersonic_ , which has a ton of old candid footage), he is composed of approximately 30% bravado and 70% illegal substances. He tends to be sober for his interviews these days, though, and he’s very funny and really charming, even though he's also clearly still on a different wavelength from everyone else on the planet. [Here](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBWHXDzWrw4) is a rapid-fire 70-questions interview he did with Vogue in 2019 (YouTube), which I found delightful; [here's](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubss8rh0Z20) a 12-minute interview in 2017 with some great stories and Liam being a big old ham (YouTube), and [here's](http://www.nme.com/big-reads/liam-gallagher-oasis-reunion-tour-noel-interview-2020-new-album-2615869) a 2020 print interview that is just Peak Liam in every way (NME).

To return to the brotherly relationship: Noel loves writing and playing music, and Liam absolutely fucking loves being a rock star. Noel on Liam: "A three-year-old Dalmatian, highly strung." Liam comparing Noel to a cat: "Loves being stroked. Total tart. Loves you when he wants." Noel’s a perfectionist, and Liam is a strong believer in “good enough.” Noel wants to be in control of everything, and Liam is a perpetual loose cannon. Noel started a record label; Liam started a clothing line. Noel is intensely private about his personal life, at least these days; Liam broadcasts his every thought and feeling to his three million twitter followers and then jams all those feelings into his songs as transparently as possible.

You can probably see where this is going. These guys obviously share some things in common – a mother they both adore, a pretty rough childhood in 70s/80s Manchester, a fanatical love of the Beatles, a shared hatred for camera phones and making music videos – but also, I mean, just look at them:

[ ](http://ltbl.webs.com/photos4.html)

Those sure are two members of the same wildly successful rock band! A BEIGE POLO SHIRT. Honestly, Noel.

All of this is to say that they have very different views on life and the musical profession, and they spent a very rocky seventeen years or so in the same band. Their fights were well-known from early on (initially exaggerated somewhat for publicity purposes, according to them); one argument was famously [released as a bootleg single](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZzQNWcluko), which then charted. Sometimes things turned physical. Noel went after Liam with a cricket bat during a recording session in 1995; Liam allegedly attacking Noel with a guitar was what lead to Noel finally leaving the band for good in 2009 (after walking out on tours at least 3 times before that).

# Okay, but why should I ship them?

The thing is, when they weren't physically attacking each other, they were still, uh, very physical.

[ ](http://starsail.tumblr.com/post/150072153918)

The Gallaghers have spent the past 25 years in the public eye being REALLY FUCKING WEIRD about each other. There's a lot of kissing and groping, both on and off stage. There are a lot of really loaded quotes about each other, a lot of emotional investment, and then we have the incest jokes. Please enjoy this smorgasbord.

Groping:

[](http://idlers-beatle-dream.tumblr.com/post/111028417520/me-and-liam-are-head-over-heels-in-love-at-the) [](http://ltbl.webs.com/photos4.html) [](http://idlers-beatle-dream.tumblr.com/post/111028417520/me-and-liam-are-head-over-heels-in-love-at-the)

Noel on Liam:

> Interviewer: He’s a good singer but more importantly he’s a good frontman, he looks good
> 
> Noel: Oh he does look good, he’s very good-looking.
> 
> ([Tumblr audio](http://snickfic.tumblr.com/post/190330059351/wolfmessiah-interviewer-hes-a-good-singer-but))

> On stage, when he turns to me and I turn to him and, like, we just both look at each other, everything just clicks, and it just, like, transcends music, and it's only me and him that will ever get this. And that's what it's about for us.
> 
> Noel in _Oasis: Supersonic_ , 2016.

> Interviewer: What do you think is your greatest contribution to music?
> 
> Noel: Liam.
> 
> ([Interview at Teatro Metropólitan, Mexico City, 2012](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfuwV5G04mU).)

More earnestly, this quote below from Noel means a lot to me. He has so much more empathy for Liam here and more honesty about himself than he shares with the press hardly ever.

> Anyway, his brother is "an idiot". Liam, insists Noel, still has "something to prove", and his colossal front hides a canyon-sized self-esteem issue. "Liam can't get his head round the fact Oasis wouldn't be Oasis without him," insists Noel, "he doesn't see it. He constantly needs to reassure himself. Ultimately, deep down, he wants to be a great songwriter. But I can't be him either. He's a force of nature. He's stunningly beautiful. And I am not sitting round a table telling him, You're the man', I'm still trying to convince myself that I'm the f***ing man, I can't be f***ing helping you, I'm trying to help myself here! Liam's glass is always half-empty, mine is always half-full. And that's it." But then he adds: "Only I'm allowed to slag him off, though. He's my idiot, I guess."
> 
> ([ Old? definitely. Weird? Maybe ...](http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/12760027.old-definitely-weird-maybe/), The Herald, November 2002.)

Oasis wouldn't be the same without him! Stunningly beautiful! He's my idiot!!!! ;____; This quote is a goldmine of feels.

Sometimes things get… kinky?

[](http://snickfic.dreamwidth.org/file/46914.jpg)

Just one example from an entire bondage photo shoot

| 

> Noel: I slapped his bottom after the gig. I put him over my knee for that, I’ll have you know.
> 
> Int: Gave him a damn good spanking. Sometimes you have to do it, don’t you.
> 
> Noel: Totally.
> 
> (Capitol Radio interview, 1995, [via](http://mfokquotearchiv.livejournal.com/149551.html))

The weird kinky overtones definitely go both ways:

> Liam: Without a doubt. I don't need to show my undying love for my brother. Listen, I adore that geezer. And I know he adores me. What do people want, me to fucking impregnate him or summat? (Cackles) Noel's sitting like that (fondles huge imaginary bump). "He's only gone an' got me up the fucking duff! To prove how much he loves me! Twins!"
> 
> (Mojo, November 2007 [via](http://mfokquotearchiv.livejournal.com/96843.html))  
  
---|---  
  
It's been broadly and independently attested by a bunch of people that what Liam wanted (wants?) most in the world was Noel's approval. For example, below is one-time drummer Tony McCarroll talking about one of Oasis's very early gigs, when Liam was trying to persuade Noel to join the band:

[](http://snickfic.dreamwidth.org/file/47245.jpg) | 

> October 1991, at the Boardwalk gig: ”We were also expecting Noel. Liam had invited him and seemed genuinely excited that his big (little) brother was coming to see us. ‘Let’s fucking make it a good one, let’s show him,’ he urged the rest of us. With this in mind, we headed out onto the stage. Liam was extra menacing that evening… After we had finished, Liam went out front to see Noel and ask him what he thought. ‘Fucking shit’, came the reply. Liam returned backstage, his fringe still stuck to his forehead with sweat. He was deflated after his brother’s cutting two-word review. Then BigUn entered the room, smiling. ‘Hey, your kid fucking loved that.’ Liam looked at him quizzically and asked, ‘How do you know that?’ BigUn then told Liam that Noel had been engrossed, excitedly telling Louise just how much potential the band had. Noel just couldn’t bring himself to tell Liam that. The news changed Liam’s mood instantly.
> 
> (McCarroll, _The Truth_ , 2010.)

(A linguistic note on the above: in the north of England, one refers to one's brother as "our kid" when talking about him to other people, and if someone is talking to you about your brother, they might refer to your brother as "your kid.")  
  
---|---  
  
> "I once told Noel that Liam would be a much more settled person if only he gave him a few kind words," said Ian [Robertson]. "I told him one gesture like 'Nobody could do what you do with my songs' would be enough, and everybody's life would be much easier.
> 
> "But he said 'It's not going to happen, never. I give him my songs to sing. How much more approval does he need beyond that? He gets to sing my songs, that's all I'll give him'."
> 
> (Daily Mirror, 1996, [via](http://mfokquotearchiv.livejournal.com/134921.html).)

  
[ ](http://snickfic.dreamwidth.org/file/48073.jpg)  


Then you've got the songs they were writing about each other while still in the band. These are just excerpts, but the full lyrics are definitely worth a listen/read.

> There are things calling my mind  
>  Nobody knows what's wrong  
>  To me and my brother  
>  Many things are calling inside  
>  Nobody knows how long  
>  Except me and my brother
> 
> (["If We Shadows"](http://genius.com/Oasis-if-we-shadows-lyrics), Noel Gallagher, 1992)

> I could be your lover  
>  You could be all mine  
>  We go on forever  
>  'Til the end of time  
>  You could be my best friend  
>  Stay up all night long  
>  You could be my railroad  
>  We'd go on and on
> 
> (["Guess God Thinks I'm Abel,"](http://genius.com/Oasis-guess-god-thinks-im-abel-lyrics) Liam Gallagher, 2005. Liam [said](http://mfokquotearchiv.livejournal.com/5464.html) this song was about him and Noel, which apparently [came as a surprise](http://mfokquotearchiv.livejournal.com/88116.html) to Noel.)

And after all that, well, you've still got the incest jokes. ("Jokes"?)

[](http://snickfic.dreamwidth.org/file/60457.jpg)

Awww, some fraternal handholding.

| 

> Liam: Me and our kid, we love each other right now.
> 
> Noel: I fucking hate him.
> 
> Liam: We do, honest to God.
> 
> Noel: He's a prick.
> 
> Liam: All this bullshit about us fighting is all a load of lies.
> 
> Noel: He's a twat.
> 
> Liam: Me and him love each other.
> 
> Noel: He's a bald twat. He's a cunt.
> 
> Liam: We had sex last night.
> 
> ([Earl's Court, London, 1995](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRp-xvh9Okc))  
  
---|---  
  
> Interviewer: Coming back to your relationship with your brother, it seems that it's better than it was a few months or years ago. Is it true, everything's going very well for you? Is it just the silence before the next storm, or is everything working out now?
> 
> Noel: Me and Liam are head-over-heels in love at the moment.
> 
> Int: Head-over-heels in love.
> 
> Noel: Yes.
> 
> Int: That's perfect, we've just a few seconds...
> 
> Noel: It's illegal in some countries, but while you're on the road, it's fine.
> 
> ([Interview at Gurten Festival, 2002.)](http://youtu.be/rWDVMyhSuLQ?t=4378)

> Interviewer: If there was another act that you were forced to send a Valentine's day card to, who would it be?
> 
> Noel: An act... Liam Gallagher's a pretty good act to give a Valentine's card to.
> 
> Int: I think that's frowned upon in many cultures, Noel, but I admire you for your pluck.
> 
> Noel: It is in the Mancunian culture, but, you know, I'm in London, aren't I? [laughs]
> 
> ([Brit Awards interview, 2007](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4lc_9f-RKQ))

> Twitter user: Noel said that you are deeply in love with him and that it upsets him, but I don't think it happened in the 90s
> 
> Liam: I love my brother yes is that a crime
> 
> ([Twitter, 2017](http://twitter.com/liamgallagher/status/939863821090508801))

But I've saved the best for last, friends. Finally, the crown jewel of this ship: the gray August day in 1996 at Loch Lamond when a little fraternal French kissing seemed like a good idea:  


[ ](http://snickfic.dreamwidth.org/file/60082.jpg) [ ](http://snickfic.dreamwidth.org/file/46469.jpg) [ ](http://snickfic.dreamwidth.org/file/48464.jpg)

# But the band broke up ages ago. Isn't it a little late to start shipping them?

[ ](http://snickfic.dreamwidth.org/file/49151.jpg)

Are brotherly codependence and incestuous homoeroticism not enough for you? Because now, friends, we reach the real narrative tension: a game of Are the Gallaghers Ever Going to Speak to Each Other Again?

After Noel left the band in 2009, he licked his wounds for a little bit, then started a solo career with his own band, Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds. He's put a few albums out now and tours some. Liam kept the rest of the band in the divorce, renamed it Beady Eye, and performed for another couple of years; when that fizzled out, he spent a significantly longer time licking his wounds before coming out with his own first solo album in 2017. He also still tours. Both of these ventures seem to be working out really well for him, even though years of hard living and [a chronic thyroid condition](http://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/jun/04/liam-gallagher-interview-rock-n-roll-saved-my-life-oasis-beady-eye) have taken their toll on his voice. (The Rehabilitation of Liam Gallagher's Public Image could be an entire post of its own and probably will at some point.)

More to the point, though, it's been 10 years since Noel left, and their direct interactions since then can be counted on one hand. According to Liam they [met up briefly](http://www.nme.com/news/music/beady-eye-86-1252975) after the 2012 London Olympics closing ceremony. He says, “I wasn’t that pissed actually. I’d only had like… four bottles of champagne. I thought I was pretty pleasant, you know what I mean? I said, ‘What do you make of that then, you fucker?’ And he went, ‘Uh yeah, it was alright.’ Then I said, ‘I seen your mates there, they said to say hello,’ and he went, ‘Who?’ and I said, ‘Take That,’ and he went ‘Urggh’. That was it and I turned me back and had a drink.”

They also happened to both be at the same soccer game once; Liam [claims](http://www.nme.com/news/oasis-liam-noel-gallagher-last-meeting-1789895), “I went into see him and I pinched his nipple and kissed him on the ear. I don’t think we spoke. I think he pulled one of his faces like he’s sucking a fucking lemon.” And Liam [went to one of Noel's concerts](http://twitter.com/liamgallagher/status/576758479626567680) in 2015, although they don't seem to have spoken.

[ ](http://snickfic.dreamwidth.org/file/45807.jpg)

Unable to express his feelings to Noel in person, Liam compensates in interviews, on Twitter, and on his solo albums. He complains about Noel on twitter at least once a week, in his replies if not in his main tweets. (Protip: all the best stuff on Liam's twitter are in the replies.) [Here's](http://twitter.com/liamgallagher/status/1167051975944474625) Liam's view of Noel's departure in a nutshell, and [here's](http://twitter.com/liamgallagher/status/1230776264006545409)…idek what, but it amuses me a lot. Among other things, he likes to make fun of Noel's height (there's a two-inch difference) and call Noel [a potato](http://twitter.com/liamgallagher/status/735067036271947776). [This](http://twitter.com/liamgallagher/status/748020042080591874) [is](http://twitter.com/liamgallagher/status/751772915637493761) [a](http://twitter.com/liamgallagher/status/751775822118129666) [recurring](http://twitter.com/liamgallagher/status/760561287839510529) [theme](http://twitter.com/liamgallagher/status/781384015009972224).

His first solo album feels like it's at least 50% about Noel, including most of the best stuff: [Wall of Glass](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdJc7-ZEuT0) is a banger and the best of the Fuck You Noel tracks, [Bold](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2d0_NAxYkMA) is a more meditative song about Liam defining himself separately from Noel, and I will let you surmise what [Come Back to Me](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ir8UofAKNCM) is about. And those are only the best of the Noel songs, lol. Meanwhile his second solo album features [One of Us](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3mhhT3c7oY), a soulful plea that the video explicitly aims at Noel and which features such lines as "Hey kid did you know / Today sixteen years ago / It was you and I for the last time" (NB: at the time the song was released, Oasis had only been broken up for 10 years) and "Come on, open your door / Come on, you know you want more." If you ever wanted one half of your ship to co-write and sing a pining anthem addressed to the other half, WELCOME.

Liam also is happy to tell anyone who asks that he liked Noel's first two albums but his third one was too experimental; but he really liked the first two albums! In general, Liam comes across like he would have a relationship with Noel again in a heartbeat if Noel made any overtures, but everything he’s doing in the meantime makes such an overture progressively more unlikely. At one point Liam announced on Twitter that they had reconciled, which he later admitted was a drunken fabrication.

On the other hand, Noel spent seventeen years shit-talking Liam to the media (all in good fun??) while still in a band with him, and he sure didn't stop once he left. He's memorably called Liam "A man with a fork in a world full of soup." (Liam later [responded](http://twitter.com/liamgallagher/status/1150075812856696832) with a video of himself eating soup. With a fork.) He mocks Liam for employing other songwriters and claims Liam is deeply frustrated that Noel is the better songwriter, which I… don't really think is the case, to be honest with you, considering both Liam's late start (his first writing credit was on Oasis's 2000 album) and how readily and enthusiastically he credits Noel's songwriting skills in interviews, even to this day. Noel also claims Liam's obssessed with him (when he was [on the Graham Norton show](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBn-UGJDtWA), he instructed everyone to wave at the screen and say "Hi, Liam"), and he spends weirdly a lot of time psychoanalyzing Liam's behavior and packaging it for the audience. If Noel's trying to come across as uninvested, he's doing a bad job.

And yet he was still, as late as the _Supersonic_ documentary in 2016, voluntarily saying things like that Liam had always been better-looking than him, taller, funnier, and had a better haircut. Noel is also clearly the kind to hold a grudge, though. The longer things go at this point, the less likely a reunion seems, especially since Liam keeps baiting Noel on twitter. (Earlier this year he even, at long last, goaded Noel into [breaking](http://twitter.com/NoelGallagher/status/1229001536954683392) [his ](http://twitter.com/NoelGallagher/status/1229001538040979463)[social media](http://twitter.com/NoelGallagher/status/1234866330580455424) [silence](http://twitter.com/NoelGallagher/status/1234866331884957696).) If Liam's the fire in this relationship, then Noel's the ice, and a thaw doesn't appear to be anywhere in the offing. (But that's what fanfic is for, yes? :D?)

# Okay, so what's the catch?

(AKA what about these guys might I find upsetting?)

Okay, first of all, they’re both assholes; that’s part of the appeal. Noel is a mean bastard who uses people, discards them, and trash talks them after, and Liam sounds like he was an absolute nightmare to tour or work with in any professional capacity whatsoever. Beyond that, though, Noel prides himself in saying exactly what he thinks, which leads to things like wishing the members of rival band Blur would contract AIDS and die (he apologized for that one) and saying that Jay-Z shouldn’t play the Glastonbury music festival because hip-hop. Noel's a Remain guy who couldn't be bothered to vote, a Tony Blair enthusiast in the 90s who more recently [thought](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/moslive/article-2094856/Noel-Gallagher-It-better-Margaret-Thatcher.html) England was in better shape under Margeret Thatcher. He also seems really, genuinely convinced he’s the greatest songwriter of his generation, despite (IMO) strictly mediocre lyrical abilities and little evidence that he’s actually listened to any other songwriters of his generation. Noel in interviews is pretty insufferable, but like, entertainingly so. On the plus side, he supports same-sex relationships, which I appreciate.

Liam, meanwhile, has long-documented problems with violence exacerbated by substance abuse, having at various times attacked Noel with a guitar (allegedly), head-butted a fan, and started a brawl with German police that resulted in him losing two teeth. It should be noted that those incidents are all fairly old; he seems to have mellowed out considerably in the last decade or so. By all accounts he’s bad at boundaries; he occasionally uses his platform of three million twitter followers to talk about just how much he hates Noel’s wife, and there was an incident [last year](http://www.nme.com/news/music/liam-gallagher-probably-shouldnt-brought-anais-feud-noel-2545191) where he messaged Noel's adult daughter with what Noel interpreted as a threat towards the wife. (Liam denies this.) He's been married twice and had children out of wedlock with other women both times. In 2017 a tabloid claimed he tried to choke his girlfriend and manager Debbie Gwyther at a club, which he and Gwyther both [denied](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-6127355/Liam-Gallagher-Debbie-Gwyther-return-home-denying-throat-grabbing-row.html). He also has a long history of casual homophobia and transphobia, for example the time he went on a tirade about how taking baths was gay and nobody who took baths could be in the band (Robertson, 1997), his discomfort with Eddie Izzard (ditto), [his scandalized delight](http://oasisinterviews.blogspot.com/2000/02/liam-gallagher-alan-white-nme-19th.html) the time someone suggested to him that Ernie and Bert were gay, and [the time he compared changing bands to crossdressing](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/rockandpopmusic/8343551/Liam-Gallagher-I-am-adored-by-millions.html) (cw slur). For a long time he's claimed to be apolitical, although [as of 2018](http://junkee.com/liam-gallagher-interview/142251) he said he "still" votes Labour. More recently he [become concerned](http://www.stopcryingyourheartout.co.uk/2019/11/liam-gallagher-on-greta-thunberg-and.html) about the climate crisis and voted for the Green Party last year.

# Where can I learn more??

  
[ ](http://snickfic.dreamwidth.org/file/45151.jpg)

One of the great things about getting into a fandom that's been around this long is there's TONS of material. I went down a research spiral at the end of the November and have not even begun to climb out. Here are some good places to start.

\- _Oasis: Supersonic_ , two-hour 2016 documentary on Oasis's rise to fame. Has tons of very early candid footage; gives a great sense of the band dynamic, especially between Liam and Noel; and lays out the basic timeline for the early years. Director Mat Whitecross did a great job. This is absolutely must-see TV for the fledgling Noel/Liam shipper. Streaming on US Netflix!

\- [Wibbling Rivalry](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZzQNWcluko). Mentioned above, this is fifteen uncut minutes of Liam and Noel fighting about whether it's "rock'n'roll" or just unprofessional to get thrown off a ferry. Comes with transcript.

\- _Oasis: What's the Story_ (1997) by Ian Robertson, Oasis's road manager for several years early on. The writing here is extremely colorful, to the point that I assume he must have had a ghostwriter, although there isn't one mentioned. He has a lot of great stories about the band and the personalities in it, and it's refreshing to hear about those early years from an adult in the room.

\- _The Truth_ (2010) by Tony McCarroll, one-time Oasis drummer. Could be subtitled Noel Gallagher Fucked Me Over and I Hate Him. McCarroll's an odd duck; his perspective of what went down between him and the band is wildly different from what you get anywhere else, and not just in the predictable ways. For example, he is 100% Team Liam, despite the fact that both Hewitt and Robertson say Liam didn't like him much and these days Liam seems to have forgotten McCarroll ever existed. If you want a more sympathetic view of Liam during the early and pre-Oasis years, though, this is a great read. McCarroll also has a ton of entertaining road stories, including Noel getting ripped off by drug dealers, him and Liam fighting over who should get to vacuum the cocaine out of the bus carpets before crossing into Canada, and rhythm guitarist Bonehead Arthurs's penchant for throwing things through hotel windows.

\- _Getting High: The Adventures of Oasis_ and _Oasis: Forever the People_ , biographies/travel diaries by Paolo Hewitt, a music journalist who traveled with Oasis for their second and third world tours. The writing here varies between workmanlike and [unbearably bad](http://snickfic.dreamwidth.org/727857.html), and it' not always easy to tell which of his accounts are things he observed himself and which he got secondhand, but _Getting High_ does provide a lot of history and background for the band members that I didn't get in other sources.

\- _Brothers: From Childhood to Oasis_ (1996) by Paul Gallagher. Believe it or not, Noel and Liam have an older brother who watched the circus of Oasis mostly from the outside. Can you imagine? I haven't read this yet (it's on my shelf!), but from the preface it looks to be half the story of Oasis from yet another perspective, half how much it sucked to watch his brothers succeed wildly when no one expected they would while Paul kept on just getting by, exactly as everyone expected he would. I'm hopeful for lots of info about Noel and Liam as kids. This is where the photos of Noel and his Inspiral Carpets ~~boy~~ friend come from.

\- , an archive of MANY memorable quotes from and about the Gallaghers over the years. Many of the same quotes can also be found [here](http://ltbl.webs.com/quotes.html) at the Let There Be Love archive, but with attributions!

\- [Oasis Interviews](http://oasisinterviews.blogspot.com/), an incredible archive of interview transcripts through 2007. Invaluable.

Finally, a couple of shorter things available free online to give you a taste:  
\- [Noise and Confusion Noel and Liam joint interview](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Mc1HIAGJLE). Features Liam in an incredible all-denim ensemble with a big colorful scarf that he hides in for the whole interview, and includes a disagreement about the definition of compromise and the Noel quote about Liam as a Dalmatian puppy.

\- [Dueling Potato Brothers: The Collected Oasis Fights and Insults](http://pitchfork.com/thepitch/1279-dueling-potato-brothers-the-collected-oasis-fights-and-insults/) (Pitchfork). A convenient timeline.

\- And finally, I mean, there is the music. I wouldn't be here if I hadn't found a song to fall in love with. (It was the [2016 D'You Know What I Mean remix](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyJU2136ym4), whose primary attributes are that it's big, loud, and has two tons of attitude. Also helicopters.) If you were paying attention in the 90s, you already know [_Definitely Maybe_](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKPlo2D1Q5E&list=PLfUV806q_Ri7OpF3G7OtFTlXDsxcGxpo_) (featuring "Supersonic" and “Live Forever,” among others) and [_(What's the Story) Morning Glory?_](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZqeGPspEcA&list=PLEouLkiLHdSBGDcwMvjMQJuj3iXi4EqLQ) ("Wonderwall," "Don't Look Back in Anger," "Champagne Supernova"); if you weren't, those are the places to start. If you want a Liam/Noel duet, B-side "Acquiesce" is a classic. If you want all Liam's unfiltered feelings about Noel, his solo albums _As You Were_ and _Why Me? Why Not_ have them in spades and are pretty fun besides.

# Any last words?

COME JOIN ME. Ask me if you have questions; I can talk about these guys FOR DAYS. I tried to cite sources for the most important facts, but I still left out a ton, so feel free to hit me up if you want details. I have so many details.

In conclusion:

[ ](http://snickfic.dreamwidth.org/file/50116.png)


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